help us Kenji Johjima, you're our only hope

I love Kenji Johjima.

In general, I think I like catchers. Maybe it's because my brother was a catcher when he played ball. Maybe it's because I like it when the catcher goes out to pat the pitcher on the shoulder and calm 'em down. Maybe I like the gear. But I like catchers, and I like offensive minded catchers in particular. I grew up liking Mike Piazza. I like that Mauer fellow who's playing for the twins. And I like Johjima, and the fact that instead of groaning and hiding when he comes up to bat, I get excited (and yes, I'm looking at you Rene Rivera).

Kenji was on the front page of Yahoo sports the other day, and I was happy to see him getting a bit of national press. The article suggests that with the Mariners rather questionable pitching moves this off season, Johjima will need to play a huge roll on the team.

Johjima must learn to read the ball coming out of Weaver's dozen arm angles, to keep Batista from imploding when he gets wild, to draw something out of Ramirez, because 248 strikeouts in 521 1/3 innings just doesn't cut it.

...

Johjima, though only in his second year in Seattle, is one of the things on which the ever-changing Mariners can rely. His 147 hits last season set an American League record for rookie catchers, and his .291 batting average, 18 home runs, 76 RBIs and .783 on-base-plus-slugging were top seven among big-league catchers.

Hey, a guy who can hit, on the Mariners? Please, can we keep him, pleeease?

Johjima also recently did a chat/interview thing at ESPN. He sounds like a friendly, funny guy, who approaches the game meticulously. I couldn't ask for a better personality on a team I'm cheering for.


One final goodie for you: Ichiro and Johjima share a wonderful, magical moment.